Kent Conrad: “I do not believe it is a tax increase, to require people to pay taxes that are legitimately owed and due now that they…”

“I do not believe it is a tax increase, to require people to pay taxes that are legitimately owed and due now that they are failing to pay. We could easily pay for the amendment of the Senator by shutting down two sham operations. Let me describe them. One is American companies and American wealthy investors--this will be hard to believe, but this is really going on--buying sewer systems in Europe, depreciating them on their books to reduce their taxes in America, and leasing back those sewer systems to European cities so that they can run them. Shutting down that scam, is that a tax increase? I don't think so. Let me describe one other. The other day my colleague showed an office building in the Cayman Islands, a five-story office building that is the home to 12,700 companies. I say that is a remarkable building. That is a real smart building, to be able to house 12,700 companies. What is really going on? What is really going on is a giant tax scam. They say they are doing business in the Cayman Islands. They are not doing any business in the Cayman Islands. They have a file clerk in this building who takes their financial records so they can claim they are doing business there. Why do they want to be doing business in the Cayman Islands when they are really not doing business in the Cayman Islands? Because the Cayman Islands is a tax haven. It is a place where you can show your profits and not pay taxes.…”